Core Sound TetraMic

TetraMic - Early Experience

Core Sound's new TetraMic is a "soundfield" microphone. This means that it is a realisation of the design originally patented by Peter Craven and Michael Gerzon in the 1970s. A soundfield microphone comprises four sub-cardioid or cardioid capsules arranged on the faces of a tetrahedron, and some means (hardware in previous microphones, and software in Core Sound's offering) to generate mono, stereo, surround, or ambisonic B-format signals.

Until recently the only regularly available soundfield microphones have been those made by SoundField Ltd, and formerly by Calrec Audio Ltd. Core Sound announced the TetraMic late in 2006, at a fraction of the cost of other soundfield microphones, and started taking pre-orders shortly after. It started shipping in the summer of 2007; I received mine in early July.

These notes describe what I received, and some of my first experiences with it. But note that I am merely an amateur recordist these days, and only record from time to time, so don't look for the equivalent of six months of solid studio usage behind my comments - though I hope my previous experience and knowledge is sufficient to make them useful none-the-less.

I have divided my comments up somewhat, in the manner of a typical review. You can select the sections from the menu on the left.